Chapter 17: Mischievous Markers
My eyes shot open to a patterned white ceiling. The last thing I remembered was a lightning bolt tattoo or something. Damn, I must have fallen asleep during a movie... again. This was a big habit at sleepovers for me, which I had tried to get out of but I had had no luck.
I stretched my arms outwards, instantly noticing a snoring Diana and an open mouthed (and dribbling) Jessica. I debated whether or not to wake them up but went against it seeing as they didn't wake me up last night when I had drifted off.
Carefully, I slipped out of my sleeping bag and crept to other side of the room. During my excursion, I almost ripped out Diana's hair by treading on it. The dyed red head stirred a bit and rolled over but I could still hear her faint snores. Phew!
I changed into some light grey sweatpants and a tank top when I noticed a permanent red marker carelessly left on the side.
How stupid could she get? To leave one of those lying around on a sleepover? It's like the deadliest thing ever! Especially on a sleepover... with me. If I could, I would have laughed hysterically at her stupidity.
With a grin from my left ear to my right, I picked up the weapon carefully. I drew closer and closer to Diana... so close that her nose was breathing warm air onto my face. I undid the lid and was about to sketch my fist line when her brown eyes shot open.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. Her body spazzed and she snatched the marker from the hands and threw it on the other side of the room. I tumbled backwards, knocking into Jessica and our remaining food. It tipped all over the carpet but luckily the liquids dodged the hits.
"AHHHH!!!" Jessica yelled. She jumped up and backed up against the wall like I was going to murder her.
"Good morning..." I got out from my mouth as casually as I could.
"You too," Diana smiled sweetly, "Never wake me up like that again."
"Me either." Jess panted. She flopped back into a sitting position as she caught her breath.
As I met eye contact with Diana, she smirked at me. This made me roll my eyes. Knowing her, it was either Mason, Joey or Billy buzzing through her mind like a bee. Honestly, it was too early to annoy me.
"We better clean up," Diana groaned, averting her gaze, "You know what my mama's like when we leave the place as a tip." I nodded, gathering empty crisp packets into my arms as if I were bargain hunting.
On one of our first sleepovers like ever, we really couldn't be bothered to clean up after ourselves after like a massive food fight. The floor was near enough covered in a blanket of food and when Diana's mum discovered our battlefield... she went mental.
I shivered at the thought, snapping back into reality.
Just as I reached the kitchen to dispose of the junk, Diana's dog raced towards me. The massive thing pounced on my legs and licked me like an ice-cream.
"Help!" I screamed. I hated dogs with all my heart. They were the scariest thing ever and the fact that I had to put up with seeing that German Sheppard made my phobia intensify. I didn't get how Diana loved that danger to pieces.
Amused, Diana scolded it. My fear was embarrassing but I actually couldn't help it. For example, some people were scared of spiders, others would be of heights. I could not think of anything scary about the furry creatures with eight legs yet the phobia seemed to be a popular one.
After we had tidied up, we sat down at the dinner (or breakfast) table while Diana's mum fried us up a hot breakfast.
Jessica topped up on foundation even though she lacked any zits on her face and Diana smeared Vaseline on herself. I couldn't bring myself to look in the mirror because I was make-up bare. I didn't feel completely comfortable even around my friends with a naked face. It takes a strong girl do that!
Hungrily, I eyed a plate full of bacon, fried egg and buttered toast. Diana's mum beamed, her non-natural whitened teeth almost blinding me, as she handed me my food. I thanked her and she sniggered a bit. I scratched my head in confusion. She had always been bubbly in general but today she was a bit off.
"You're welcome. When's your dad picking you up, Jessie?" Her mum span on her heels and retreated back to the kitchen to fry another egg.
"In an hour, I'm giving Flo a ride back," Jessica explained. I watched her dip the crust of her toast into the egg yolk before flying it into her mouth. She chewed on her mouthful as I heard a whimper from the corner.
Diana's stupid dog was wallowing itself in self-pity. I rolled my eyes at the animal. I couldn't blame it for being so clueless yet my hate for it burned passionately.
So after breakfast, we had some time to kill as we waited to be picked up.
"Why don't we find Mason's Facebook?" Diana hinted. I rolled my eyes, watching her pull out her pink laptop. It was graphitised in glittery stickers and a picture of Disney princesses were glued onto the rim of the screen.
Jess flipped out her phone and loaded her web browser. Yet again, I was being signed into (but this time involuntarily) into something related to boys.
"Race you to his profile!" Diana challenged.
"I don't even know what he looks like," Jess smirked, "So I get one minute deducted from the finder's score."
"I don't even know why you two are setting me up!" I exclaimed.
Diana guffawed to herself whilst she clicked on her touch screen pad whereas Jessica tried keeping what she was doing secretive.
What best friends I have.
"What's Joey's last name?" Diana piped up.
"Don't you know it yourself?" Jess continued scrolling through her phone. Diana's question was valid, actually. How had we gone this far without knowing it? Was it a secret or something?
"What is it?"
Jess shot her eyes over in my direction. I examined her bluish grey-ish orbs.
"King." She answered bluntly before turning back to examine her screen.
King? I had heard of that last name before... a lot. Oddly enough, I knew it to go well with the word "officer". I racked my brain, pulling together the jigsaw pieces.
And when I did, I felt sick. My stomach twisted into knots, cramps and I became wheezy.
"He has the same surname as that lousy police officer that cost our school its entire reputation," I pointed out, "You know, the one that investigated the runaway stabber." I pounded my fists together as I remembered that incident. Even months after it had happened, Birch's image remained in shards.
"Well, that guy is his dad, you know." Jessica said.
"So why couldn't he continue the case?"
"He couldn't be bothered to?" Diana offered.
"No, that's not it. Maybe Joey knew the guy with the jumper over his head?" Jessica suggested.
Then.... it hit me like a wrecking ball slamming into a wall.
Joey must have forced his father to conclude the investigation. He must have persuaded him to give it up. Any father would look out for their son to make sure his well-being was well furthermore, he seemed to have a way with words. He could have probably convinced Hitler to love Jews if he had the opportunity to. Why did he do that? Because he knew the guy behind the crime.
The mystery man knew who the runaway man was.
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Shit is going down guuuurl! * insert shaniqua gesture here*
But yeah. Joey's involved in that whole thing that made everyone hate Florence's school. Maybe there's a deeper reason behind or maybe there isn't. Who knows? KEEP READING AND YOU'LL FIND OUT MORE!!
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Runaway Man
HumorI was fully aware that what I was doing went against what my brain was screaming at me to do, but it was human instinct. When your heart takes over, you forget that you even have a brain and it makes you do stupid things that you'll only regret late...
